Arsenal wins at Zurich in Europa League, Roma beaten 2-1

Thu, Sep 8, 2022
Soccer News (AP)

Arsenal wins at Zurich in Europa League, Roma beaten 2-1

Brazilian teenager Marquinhos marked his Arsenal debut by scoring the opening goal and setting up a second in a 2-1 victory over Zurich in the their opening group stage match of the Europa League on Thursday.

Eddie Nketiah scored the winner after Zurich equalized from a penalty awarded due to his foul as Arsenal rebounded from Sunday's 3-1 loss to Manchester United - their first defeat in the Premier League this season.

A minute of silence was planned before a late match between Manchester United and Real Sociedad in the second-tier European competition to pay respect to Queen Elizabeth II, who died at the age of 96 on Thursday.

Both teams were to wear black armbands and the flags at Old Trafford were flying at half-mast.

Roma opened its campaign with a 2-1 defeat at Ludogorets in Bulgaria.

In the third-tier Europa Conference League, Villarreal beat Lech Poznan 4-3 while Fiorentina was held 1-1 at home by Latvian champion RFS.

The start of a match between Nice and Cologne in the ECL was delayed because of fights among supporters in the stands at Allianz Riviera stadium. Kickoff was pushed back by 55 minutes to 7.40 p.m. local time because of crowd disturbances at the Nice stadium.

EUROPA LEAGUE

The duo of Nketiah and Marquinhos were involved in the decisive moments of Arsenal's victory while United States goalkeeper Matt Turner made his debut for the Gunners following his summer transfer from the New England Revolution in the Major League Soccer.

Nketiah found the back of the net with a header in the second half that went in between the legs of Zurich goalkeeper Yanick Brecher off a cross from Marquinhos, who joined Arsenal this summer from Sao Paulo.

In the London club's return to European soccer after one year absence, the 19-year-old Marquinhos met a cross from Nketiah from the left to side-foot into the top corner and finish off a fluent counter-attack 16 minutes into the game.

Despite Arsenal's dominance, the hosts equalized a minute before halftime after Mirlind Kryeziu sent Turner the wrong way from the spot.

In the same Group A, PSV Eindhoven drew Bodo/Glimt 1-1.

Brazilian forward Nonato scored the late winner winner for the Bulgarian club Ludogorets.

After Jose Mourinho's Roma triumphed at the inaugural Europa Conference League last season, the coach seeks his third Europa League title following his victories with Porto in 2003 and Manchester United in 2017.

Center forward Tammy Abraham was not available for Mourinho because of a shoulder issue.

Michy Batshuayi came off the bench to give Fenerbahce a 2-1 home win over Dynamo Kyiv.

Willian Jose converted a penalty in first-half stoppage time and added another later for Real Betis' 2-0 victory at Helsinki.

EUROPA CONFERENCE LEAGUE

Francis Coquelin struck a minute from time for Villarreal to seal the victory.

Villarreal was in the Champions League semifinals four months ago but had to settle for the Europa Conference League after finishing seventh in Spain last season.

Elsewhere, Scotland's Hearts were routed by Istanbul Basaksehir 4-0 in Edinburgh and Fabio Silva's late penalty gave Anderlecht a 1-0 win against Silkeborg.

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